A story published today in the Houston
Chronicle sys that black women are sick of marriage.

Well, lots of them, anyway.

I've just looked at "The Consequences of
Marriage for African-Americans," a comprehensive review of the most recent
literature (since about 1990) on the subject, and the conclusions are
generally what you'd expect:

Marriage promotes the economic, social,
familial and psychological well-being of black men and women — as it does
for men and women generally. Marriage is wonderful for children, who turn
out to be less trouble-prone than their single-parent-household peers.

The economic benefits of marriage are more
pronounced for black couples than for whites, more often keeping their
families from slipping below the poverty line.

But when it comes to physical health,
marriage is worse than neutral for black women. Listen to the report,
newly published by the Manhattan-based Institute for American Values:

"Our research finds that marriage brings
small health benefits to black men — and none to black women. In fact,
married black women are significantly less likely to report having
excellent health than are unmarried black women"

Understand that the report is from people
and organizations who could fairly be called a part of the "marriage
movement". Many of those involved have long touted the benefits of
marriage — to men, women and children. The female health finding must have
caught them by surprise.

Most of them, anyway. Linda Malone-Colon,
one of the five scholars conducting the review, said she wasn't exactly
blindsided by the finding.

"Overall, the study shows the smallest
benefit to black women — but it's still an important benefit," said
Malone-Colon, a psychologist who is director of the Washington-based
National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, a clearinghouse for resources
for strengthening marriages.

But a negative
consequence for the
health of black women?

"I know.
There are some dynamics we haven't given a lot of attention to, though one
could hypothesize. It probably has to do with the quality
of marriage —
self-reported levels of satisfaction with the marriage.

"In a number of surveys, African-Americans
report that they are less satisfied. They also report higher levels of
conflict — even violence. Then there's the matter of domestic justice —
sharing household responsibilities. And infidelity rates are higher among
African-American men".

Malone-Colon is African-American.

David Blankenhorn, who heads the Institute
for American Values, will not be pleased with my emphasis on what is
perhaps the only negative finding of the study. (Besides Malone-Colon, who
is associated with Hampton University, the authors are Lorraine Blackman
of Indiana University, Obie Clayton of Morehouse College, Norval Glenn of
the University of Texas and Alex Roberts of the Institute for American
Values.)

But the negative correlation between
marriage and health for black women is intriguing — and surely worthy of
further exploration.

Blankenhorn wouldn't disagree with that.
But the positive findings are important too, he insists. "No matter how
you look at it, marriage turns out to be a lifeline for African-American
males," he said.

He believes the review, funded by the Annie
E. Casey Foundation, underscores the case for black marriage, even though
the noneconomic benefits may be more pronounced for white couples. White
children also benefit somewhat more from their parents' marriage than
black children, though both clearly benefit. Black boys benefit more than
black girls.

The overall significance of the study, he
says, is that marriage does yield important benefits for
African-Americans.

As the report itself notes: "There is every
reason to believe that increased marriage rates, and especially higher
numbers of good marriages, would bring significant improvements to black
people's lives. To take one example, we have seen in this review that
higher marriage rates among African-Americans would almost certainly
reduce the risks of juvenile delinquency facing young African-American
males"

Moreover, the scholars conclude,
strengthening marriage in black America might be as effective as "any
other strategy" in addressing the crisis of black males.

But the
implied caveat is that they'd better be good
marriages —
nonconflictual, nonviolent and fair.

Black women have seen the other kind of
marriage and they are, quite literally, sick of it.

Raspberry is a Pulitzer
Prize-winning syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. (willrasp@washpost.com)